In the autumn of 1831, Alexander Pushkin moved permanently to St. Petersburg. His four children were born during that time: Maria in 1832, Alexander in 1833, Grigory in 1835, and Natalia in 1836.
At the time of his death, the eldest, Maria, had not yet reached the age of five, and the youngest child, Natalia, had only just turned eight months old. Of the children, only Maria and Alexander retained some memories of their father.
Like all of Pushkin’s children, Maria received a thorough home education and was fluent in two foreign languages — German and French. She enjoyed reading, playing the piano, and drawing. In 1860, she married Lev Nikolayevich Hartung, an officer in the Life Guards Cavalry Regiment, and went on to lead a long and challenging life.
The eldest son of Alexander Pushkin decided to pursue a career in the military. In 1853, he began his service as a lieutenant in the Life Guards Mounted Regiment, commanded by his stepfather, Pyotr Petrovich Lanskoy. He participated in the military campaign of 1854–1855 and distinguished himself in battles for the liberation of Bulgaria during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, commanding the 13th Hussar Narva Regiment. Alexander retired from service at the age of 57 in 1891 with the rank of general. A full cavalier of five Russian and three foreign orders, including a golden sword “For Bravery”, Alexander Alexandrovich Pushkin, even in old age, never wore civilian clothing, maintaining the excellent bearing of a career officer until the end of his days.
Grigory, following in the footsteps of his elder brother, Alexander, joined the Life Guards Cavalry Regiment under the command of his stepfather, Pyotr Petrovich Lanskoy. However, he soon left the military service and was listed for some time in one of the departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In 1866, he settled in Mikhailovskoye, the ancestral estate of the Hannibal family, where he served as an honorary magistrate judge for the Opochetsky District and a juror for the St. Petersburg District Court. In 1896, he achieved the rank of State Counselor. In 1899, his estate was transferred to the state treasury and came under the jurisdiction of the Pskov branch of the Pushkin Committee. Grigory then permanently moved to Markuchai (Markučiai), near Vilna (now known as Vilnius), where his wife, Varvara Alekseyevna Melnikova, owned an estate.
Natalia, the youngest daughter of Alexander Pushkin, married Colonel Mikhail Dubelt in 1853. The couple separated in 1862 and later divorced. Their three children were brought up by the Lanskoy family. In 1867, Natalia entered into a morganatic marriage with Prince Nikolaus Wilhelm of Nassau, taking the title of Countess von Merenberg, and soon left Russia permanently. She also had three children from this second marriage.
